Weather across the nation: 2/7/13

Snow continued to move through the North, while showers and thunderstorms persisted in the Southeast.

A low pressure system that brought heavy snow to the Upper Midwest continued to move eastward and brought heavy snow into the Great Lakes. Snowfall totals reached up to 6 inches in parts of Wisconsin, with up to 8 inches in some areas of Michigan.

Warmer temperatures to the southern side of this system allowed for snow to turn to freezing rain and rain showers as it moved through the Mid-Mississippi River Valley and into the Ohio River Valley. At the same time, another area of low pressure to the south moved through the Southeast and pulled moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico.

This produced heavy rain showers and thunderstorms from northern Florida through the Mid-Atlantic states. Heavy rainfall ranged from 2 to 3 inches, with the heaviest rain reported at Pensacola, Fla., with a midday total of 3.22 inches. Strong and damaging wind gusts accompanied this system with gusts from 50 to 60 mph.

A waterspout offshore of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and was reported to have moved onshore and caused damage to highways. As these two areas of low pressure continued to move toward the Northeast, winter weather advisories and blizzard warnings were issued for the region.

Hurricane force wind advisories have been issued for the coastal areas as these systems will create strong winds.

Meanwhile, in the West, a low pressure system pushed a cold front over the Pacific Northwest and into Northern California. This kicked up rain and high elevation snow showers with snowfall totals ranging from 3 to 8 inches for the Cascades and Sierras.

ON THIS DATE....... Today's factoid has nothing to do with weather, but it is interesting nonetheless. On this date in 1812, a strong earthquake struck the area around the small town of New Madrid, Mo. The jolt was so strong that the Mississippi River ran backwards and an island in the river sank. The fault where this earthquake occurred is actually still active.